Day 5. June 5, 2011-Lake Charles, LA

Dearest Readers,
Said goodbye to the shrimp boats on Grand Isle and headed northwest towards Texas. Initially I drove on miles of elevated roads over wetlands, canals and bayous.
After leaving the New Orleans area, the highway became patched and a washboard of lumps. The landscape alternated between acres of sugar beets and pockets of industrialization along waterways. Rusted bridges, beat up trailers and poverty lives along this corridor. At Lafayette, LA the road widened and improved. The economy here is dominated by energy companies and all sorts of subsidiary businesses dealing in drilling, rigs, haudraulics, engineering, drill fluids, etc. I saw two Halliburton signs.



I’m camped at Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles, LA tonight by an exotic bayou. I’ve doused myself in Cutters mosquito spray, having a beer and a glass of wine while listening to weird water birds and deep throated, pulsing frogs face off. Ducks and alligators abound in the water. No swimming allowed! Unlike last night on the Gulf near NOLO, the campground here is pretty empty. Nice to relax despite the heat. At 4:00pm when I pulled in the temperature was 102! No AC for me tonight.

Below are some bayou pics, Etta tied onto the elbow of a cypress tree and the lovely Houston river.






I'm getting the hang of this traveling solo business and relaxing into it.
As I've said before, John Steinbeck felt that each journey has its own personality. This one seems to be about meeting people, nurturing my artist friendships and experiencing whatever America presents on the routes to the next glove artist in the "Hand to Hand Project"